2022 SHD Annual Report

2021-22

ANNUAL REPORT Championing Health Equity

CEO MESSAGE

Finding Common Ground in Community Board of Directors

Dear Sequoia Healthcare District resident,

Jerry Shefren, MD

Throughout the past year our work has centered around our collective desire to experience good health, to feel safe and supported, and to have equitable access to food, shelter and quality health services.

President

Aaron Nayfack, MD

Kim Griffin, RN

Ivan Martinez

Michael Garb

Secretary/Treasurer Director

Director Director

Staff Pamela Kurtzman, MPH Chief Executive Officer

Jenny Bratton

Luz Garcia

Director of Partnerships & Development

Communications Specialist Sequoia Strong Coordinator

Heidi Stamper

Clerk of the Board

While achieving and sustaining these outcomes is a tremendous and never-ending task, I am proud of what we have accomplished so far. Our $12 million dollar investment back into the communities we serve was substantially leveraged to help expand and refine services being provided by our partners on the ground.

Whether through our own District-led Initiatives or through funding our extraordinary community partners, we were able to help address the significant increase in demand for health services, particularly for mental health services in our schools and greater community, as well as to help address the sharp rise in food insecurity.

While the client stories featured in this annual report provide only a snapshot of the collective impact of our investments, they speak to why our dedicated staff and Board members along with our many extraordinary collaborative partners continue to do the difficult work of confronting and combatting longstanding health inequities.

In good health,

CEO Pamela Kurtzman (middle) with RWC City Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department Director Chris Beth (r) and Manager Bruce Utecht (l)

Pamela Kurtzman, CEO

Sequoia Healthcare District serves residents of these cities:

The 1st of 79 Health Districts in California

WHO WE ARE

We improve access to quality health services We are committed to investing all property tax income into quality, high impact programs that enhance the health and well-being of District residents. We do this in the following ways: Funding innovative community health and wellness programs

$20.4 M TOTAL INCOME+ Tax revenue Dignity Healthˆ

$2 M $1 M

CHI Investment*

Addressing physical and mental health in schools

$15.8 M

CA Covid Relief

$O.7 M

Building strong community collaborations Pension**

Enhancing access to quality health and safety services

$14.7 M

TOTAL EXPENDITURES

Healthy Schools

$4.5 M

Caring Community

$3.8 M

Collective Impact Fund

$3.7 M

Pension**

$1.5 M

Operational Expenses

$1.2 M

0M

$3.7 M

0M

1M

AWARDED

$1.5 M 5M

10M

15M

20M

ˆThrough a joint agreement, Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital provided $2 million initial funding toward a 20-year, $22 million collaborative funding initiative. *Children's Health Initiative of SMC refund of unexpended dollars. **The pension is a pass-through expense paid by Sequoia Hospital to cover old pension plan debt. +The income chart does not indicate a $600K temporary decline in investment income. All the dollar amounts have been rounded.

2M

3M

4M

5M

We are currently developing initiatives to invest all additional revenue back into the community.

Collective Impact Fund

SHD provides annual renewable grants to serve our most vulnerable residents. We have been a long-time partner with County providers of critical health and safety net services, specifically our signature partners: Ravenswood Family Health Center, San Mateo Medical Center-Fair Oaks, Sonrisas Dental Health, Samaritan House, and First 5 SMC.

We are also pleased to provide funding for Peninsula Volunteers Inc.'s (PVI) Ride PVI program, LifeMoves Maple Street Shelter LVN, and Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula's psychotherapist. These renewable year-long grants have been a lifeline for the organizations' clients.

Keep reading for more information!

“I was worried about dying. I asked God for a little more life to enjoy my grandchildren.

They are my only family in this country.”

—Abelardo

CLIENT HIGHLIGHT Abelardo When all five members of Abelardo’s family contracted COVID-19 during Thanksgiving 2020, Samaritan House was there to support them. A team effort led by Dr. Massy Safai, volunteer physician, helped keep the family successfully quarantined. Through telehealth visits, the medical team was able to assess the family’s health and deliver the appropriate medications.

Samaritan House also delivered daily warm meals, groceries and household supplies to Abelardo’s family so that they could stay quarantined in their Redwood City apartment.

As a vital public health provider, Samaritan House was able to diagnose and monitor Abelardo’s family, saving hospital resources, and preventing the further spread of COVID19.

Vista Center for the Blind provides itinerant services to our clients in their home and AWARDED Samaritan House works to keep everyone in community which allows them to apply the our community fed, clothed, healthy, and skills they have learned to remain housed through providing food services, independent in their own environment. Since children's programs, housing and shelter, Julyhealth 2021, and some services have been offered dental clinics, case management, both virtually and incenter, personfinancial to ensure the worker resource client is reaching their full potential, including empowerment workshops, and school Support groups.

Clients have been quoted to programs.

Learn more at https:// findsamaritanhousesanmateo.org. them "lifesaving" especially during Covid19 challenges.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHT RIDE PVI Program

When it first started, the Ride PVI program transported clients in Menlo Park to and from their homes and the Little House senior center. Now, it has expanded to transporting clients to their doctor or dentist appointments, grocery stores, and pharmacies.

PVI will arrange for a Lyft Driver to pick you up from your home within a few minutes. When you are ready to return, you call them back and they will get you a safe, comfortable ride home. No cell phone needed! Just call their transportation hotline at 650-272-5040.

Service hours are Mondays – Friday from 9 AM to 4 PM. Preregistration is required for all users.

Residents Served 2021-22

Peninsula Volunteers (PVI) empowers older individuals to lead independent lives through care and connection.

Located in Menlo Park, PVI offer four essential services: Little House senior activity center, Rosener House adult day services, Meals on Wheels and RIDE PVI. To volunteer or learn more about their services, please visit https://1pvi.org.

“What I learned is that experiences, good or bad, impact your life in ways you could never imagine." —Amanda

“I realized part of surviving was accepting that I may become blind and working towards handling this new normal.” —Paula

CLIENT HIGHLIGHT Paula

Paula is an 80-year-old woman who lives in San Carlos, California. She has been losing vision due to macular degeneration, glaucoma, and a maturing cataract.

Paula was referred to Vista Center by her ophthalmologist so she can get services like Counseling, Training and Education that will help her navigate life after irreversible vision loss. She is terrified about becoming totally blind, which is how most of Vista's clients feel at first. Paula was given individual counseling to be followed by participation in a support group.

She is now learning how to live with her changed circumstances and cope with progressive vision loss. “Being able to exchange information with other people who are visually impaired certainly helps me live with vision loss in a positive manner.”

Vista Center for the Blind provides services to clients in their home and community, allowing them to apply the skills they have learned to remain independent. Clients have noted that they are "lifesaving" especially during Covid-19 challenges. For more information, visit https://vistacenter.org.

MENTEE HIGHLIGHT Amanda

As told by Amanda, a medical assistant at Stanford Hospital, Redwood City resident, and past Friends for Youth mentee (edited for brevity):

I was introduced to Friends For Youth through school, and little did I know it would change everything. Walking in, my initial thought was that there was no way that a mentor could help me, simply because they don't relate to me in any way. I was paired with Cece and Jim. Together, they both taught me about careers and life. They both pushed me to be my best self. As time passed I started to care about school more.

However, when sophomore year rolled around things got rocky for me. I was unfortunately a rape victim. In the time that I Residents Served felt worthless, disgusting, alone, and 2021-22 completely shattered, both Cece and Jim were there for me. I honestly don’t think I’d be here today without the support I got from them, the school, and my mom. I’d love to also mention that I have not only graduated high school half a year early, but am now a Program Intern at Friends For Youth.

Interested in becoming a mentor or mentee? Friends for Youth provides 1-to-1 and group mentoring to youths 8-17 in the Peninsula. To make an impact today, visit https://friendsforyouth.org.

OUR IMPACT

Caring Community Grants Program

$3.8 M

AWARDED

The Caring Community grants program continued to grow in depth and scale in 2021-22. The program supported 59 grants totaling approximately $3.8 million, which was an increase from the $3 million granted in the previous 2020-21 grant cycle.

In total, the 59 grantees served over 65,000* SHD residents. The 2020 Census reports that there are close to a quarter of a million residents residing within the SHD boundaries, so it is estimated that up to one out of four households have benefited from these programs.

65,000*

These grants funded a variety of programs in six different categories: behavioral health, health literacy for seniors, health literacy for youth and adults (Y&A), Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) prevention, clinical services, and Food/Nutrition.

The need and demand for services has grown, mirrored by the reach of the programs Sequoia Healthcare District funds.

The 2021-22 combined total of residents served is well over double the 27,000 district residents reported in the 2020-21 cycle.

For more information, visit seqhd.org/grants.

$100K

AWARDED

A joint holiday food grant program partnership with Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital* was created in 2020 as a direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2021, the joint holiday food program awarded $100,000 among five community partners: One Life Counseling, St. Francis Center, St. Vincent de Paul, LifeMoves, and Latino Commission.

1 out of 4 SHD residents served *this number does not account for duplications

Health Seniors 16.9%

Behavioral 27.7%

Food/Nutrition 23.9%

Clinical 5.5% ATOD 8.7%

Health Y & A 17.4%

Distribution of funds by grant categories

These grants directly benefited over 9,000 SHD residents. This is in addition to the number of residents regularly served through the 202122 Caring Community grants program, which funded $895,000 in nutrition and food grants to local agencies running food programs. *SHD is not affiliated with Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital although we partner on health initiatives together.

OUR IMPACT Healthy Schools Initiative

School Grants

$4.5M

Over the past 12 years, SHD has served as a leader in convening partners and providing a network of community supports and resources for students, families, and school staff. Through our Healthy Schools Initiative (HSI), SHD provides annual funding of over $4.5 million to eight local school districts, impacting approximately 31,000 K-12 students.

These funds help to support positions such as: health and wellness leads school nurses school counselors PE+ coaches

AWARDED

HSI funding supports the following:

31K K-12 STUDENTS SERVED

Furthermore, we provided much needed funding and support for school frontline Covid response teams. Wellness leads and school nurses convened on a regular basis to share information and strategies about fighting the ongoing pandemic. Without the leadership of these individuals, it would have been difficult for our schools to re-open for in-person learning. Health and safety comes first, and setting this foundation was essential before classrooms re-opened.

Free resources for parents and community education Substance use and suicide prevention programs Educator trainings on critical topics to support students

HSI Grants: Over half a million dollars ($539,000) was allocated to 22 non-profits that worked with our school districts in the 2021-22 school year.

These partners provided a myriad of services to our schools, from outside education to animal-assisted support. For a complete list of past and current grantees, visit www.seqhd.org/hsi.

The Healthy Schools Initiative serves these school district communities:

22 non-profit organizations supported

Zone A Zone D

Mission:

Vision:

Our Vision is for all District residents to experience optimal physical and mental health at every stage of life.

Sequoia Healthcare District is committed to improving the health of District residents by enhancing access to care and promoting wellness through responsible stewardship of District taxpayer dollars.

Zone C

New Partnership with Red Cross:

ZonehandsB We are partnering with American Red Cross to offer adult only CPR and basic first aid classes for District residents, with E more classes being added in 2023. Learn more Zone and register at seqhd.org!

Acknowledgements: In celebration of SHD's 75th Anniversary, the San Mateo County History Museum hosted the Sequoia Healthcare District Then & Now exhibit from April to August, 2022 and a speaker event on April 30th with former Sequoia Hospital CEO/SHD Board Director Art Faro, Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital CEO Bill Graham, and SHD CEO Pamela Kurtzman. A special thanks to Dana Nietzel and Carmen Blair from the SMC History Museum for their assistance with the exhibit and event!

Visit our site for

up-to-date info on boosters and vaccine clinics!

Para una versión en español visite nuestro sitio web.

We would also like to thank our many community collaborators, which include: Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital, The Gardner Center, Peninsula Healthcare District, Redwood City (Parks, Recreation and Community Services), Sandhill Foundation, San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, SMC History Museum, SMC Office of Education, SMC Department of Health, Thrive, 49ers Alumni Association, Via Heart — as well as all the community members that stepped in to serve on committees and speak at our Town Halls.

facebook.com/shealthdistrict 650-421-2155

@shealthdistrict seqhd.org 525 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, CA 94063